JANNA CHRISTIAN
”How’s Your Family?” Interdisciplinary janna.e.christian@gmail.com www.jannachristian.com
Five and a half years ago, my family adopted my younger, special-needs sister. Because her disability and recovery from orphanhood demanded much more than we ever expected, our relationships strained and completely changed. Over time I have come to realize that although my family gained another person, we lost so much of what we used to have. I am still in the process of grieving that loss, and am faced with many tensions: I had an expectation. But reality is far from it. I am grieving. But I feel like I should be happy. I know what it’s been like. But what others perceive makes me question what’s real. I feel like this story should be complete by now. But it’s still unresolved. So much has gone wrong. Is there any good that can come out of it? I use black and white film photography together with handwritten quotes and journal entries to explore these tensions and to communicate a story that not many have experienced or understood. In a deeper way, I tell my story in an attempt to build connections to others’ stories, connections formed through the shared but varied human experiences of grief and struggle.
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